A Lover's Alphabet
by eighteenfortyone
Summary: Letters form words, words form sentences, sentences form paragraphs, paragraphs form chapters, chapters form stories. For clever and cool boys, a series of letters is enough for a series of memories. [For a sweet taste of KevEdd]
1. A

**Note from Machi:** Just wanted to write some quick little Kevedd bits, so here's a series of cute situations that are totally unrelated to any particular story line, but relate to each letter of the alphabet. So if you're in the mood for reading twenty-six mini-stories of one of my favorite ships, then you're in for a treat!

* * *

"We will begin this semester by reading _The Crucible_ and _The Scarlet Letter_," the teacher announced in the front of the classroom. "To give a little information, _The Crucible_ does involve suspicions of witch craft and all that glory."

It wasn't that Kevin hated school, it was just that learning never caught his attention and he never could hold an interest for a subject for longer than ten seconds, and of all the subjects, English had to be one of the worst. Perhaps that was why he never sat in the front in any of his classes and why in English he especially sat in the far back against the wall.

On the other hand, Edd was different. He enjoyed learning and he wasn't sure if there was any other place he would consider as a safe haven as much as he considered his classrooms to be. That was why in all of his classes he sat in the front.

The teacher paced across the front of the classroom as she addressed her students, making eye contact with those listening and those dazing off to make sure that everyone was involved in the discussion. "So let me as you this," she stopped in the middle. "How many of you have freckles?"

Some hands scattered around the room held their hands up. Kevin was one who should have rose his hand as well, but he never held his hand up in class, even if it was to participate in activities such as this one where you didn't have to say the answer out loud.

"Okay, now how about scars? Moles?" The teacher continued and a few more hands rose in the air, and a few already raising started raising even higher as they admitted to have more than just one she asked. "Birthmarks?"

After the mention of that last one, Kevin saw from where he was sitting, a hand raise in the front row. He sat up straight in his chair as he thought to himself, _Edd has a birthmark?_

Right there, in the back of the classroom, his mind began to wander into places it shouldn't have. It walked circles around Edd, observing with close attention around those delicate fingers and gap toothed smile. When it couldn't recall any birthmark from his usually appearance, his mind began to think of that bare area on his body where his neck met his shoulder, and then it crept under his shirt and explored each space on his skin until it was all over Edd, enveloping him in complete possession and imagining just where, oh where, could that birthmark be. On his chest? On his side where each rib could be felt? Right below his hip where you had to tug the band of his pants to reveal..?

"Witches, all of you, would be considered witches." Their teacher playfully teased her students as she wagged a finger at all those who rose their hands. "But that's _The Crucible_. Now for _The Scarlet Letter_, that's the one everyone knows where our main protagonist is forced to wear a red A on her clothing." Now the teacher was looking for a student to answer her next question. "Do any of you actually know what that A stood for?"

Of course, Edd was the first to raise his hand for her question. The teacher chose him and he immediately answered, "Adultery."

A hand in the very back suddenly shot up. The teacher rose an eyebrow. "Yes, Kevin? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Can I... Use the restroom?"


	2. B, C(ity), D

**-B**

As he listened to her high heels clacking away, Kevin turned around and crossed his arms across his chest. "What a bi-"

Standing near him was Edd who always spoke with an elevated vocabulary and had a low tolerance for inappropriate language.

Kevin cleared his throat. "She is, uh... Certainly a handful."

* * *

**-C(**_ity_**)**

There's always that saying that you can remove a person from the city but you can't remove the city from that person.

Maybe that's why whenever Kevin would hop in his parents' car for their monthly visits back to the old home in the city, Edd can't help but feel a little nervous. Edd's fingers would sometimes shake at the thought of Kevin reuniting with his old friends and playing a game of baseball right there on the street, making sure to pick up the garbage can lid off the road whenever someone would shout that a car was coming. Edd's words would stammer when he'd say something he'd imagine Kevin saying during a conversation he would have with his old kindergarten teacher, bragging about all of the accomplishments he's done so far and thanking his teacher for being the initial reason for all those accomplishments. Edd's eyes would shut close when he would begin envisioning the sights Kevin would see in the city with someone who was smarter and dorkier.

But like every visit, Kevin's family car would always return back to the cul-de-sac and drive up to their drive way. Kevin would always help carry boxes of junk his family from the city would give to his family in the suburbs, and he would also sometimes carry back a bag filled with new comics or new sports equipment that you could only find at a cheaper price in the city. Kevin would return back home, and that was all that mattered.

"How was your time spent in the city?" Edd would ask.

"Ehh," Kevin would shrug, even though Edd could see the obvious gleam in his eyes that only showed when someone was recalling longing memories of the past. "It was alright."

"Alright?" Edd repeated. "How could it have only been alright? There is so much more activities and settings to see when you go down to the city!"

Kevin would honestly be too tired from the car ride back to the suburbs to take the opportunity to say something cliched, like "But it doesn't have you" or "Any place without you isn't the place to be". He would just instead repeat, "It was alright" and move the conversation into a different topic.

Kevin was back home, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

**-D**

When Kevin first moved to the cul-de-sac, it was a rush of friendly faces and introductions that he was honestly too shy to ask to repeat again because he never remembered names the first time around.

But there was that moment when that single kid wearing oversized overalls and a black hat pulled over his head walked down from the house across the street and stretched a grubby hand towards Kevin and said, "Salutations! I'm Double D."

Kevin looked the other boy up and down, specifically in the chest area because even at his young age, exposure to enough Bikini Babe magazines had taught the young Kevin more things than average boys his age knew. And then Kevin said "No you're not" before hopping onto his bicycle and riding off.

Even though he never said, that was the first name he learned from the cul-de-sac.


	3. E

"Okay, so I've heard this since I was younger, but," Kevin began the conversation. "What the heck does E equal mc squared even mean?"

Edd closed the book he was reading and put it down. Kevin was actually interested in learning more about physics? This was a moment he couldn't just let pass.

"That is the mass-energy equivalence concept introduced by Einstein in his 1905 _Annus Mirabilis_ paper, 'Does the inertia of an object depend upon its energy-content?'" Edd explained. "E represents energy, m represents mass, and c represents the speed of light. The formula is truly genius in that it is dimensionally consistent and does not require any specific unit of measure."

The blank stare Kevin was giving to Edd meant that Edd had to re-explain in simpler language.

Edd took a moment to think of an easier way to explain, and then continued, "Basically, mass is a property of energy, energy is a property of mass, and the two properties or connected by a constant. So imagine a body with a mass and it's at rest; that would mean that the total internal energy of the body at rest is the same."

Kevin nodded, slowly beginning to comprehend what was being said. "So like... If the body is at rest, then it stays at rest since it has no energy to move or something?"

"Now that is exactly what Newton's First Law of Motion, or otherwise known as the Law of Inertia, states," Edd's eyes lit up as this simple conversation slowly began turning into the most stimulating conversation he had with anybody in all of Peach Creek. "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it."

"Wait, wait, wait," Kevin took his hat off to scratch the top of his head, and then put it back on to try and wrap his mind around every word that was being said. "If this is the First Law of Motion, then there's more?"

"But of course! There are three in total." Edd smiled, slightly surprised that this wasn't obvious information that everyone should have already known. "Newton's Second Law of Motion involves the equation of force equaling to the mass times acceleration, and Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

"Equal and opposite reaction, huh?"

There was another pause between the boys as Kevin took a moment to process every word that was just exchange. And then after a few moments, Kevin stood up from where he was sitting and began to walk away.

Edd, confused, also stood up and then called after him, "Where are you going?"

There was no reply from the redheaded boy who was already almost out the door.

"But Kevin," Edd protested, not wanting the dialogue between them to end. "Don't you want to continue conversing about physics?"

"No." Kevin simply said as he kept walking away. "This is my equal and opposite reaction, so... Bye."


	4. F(etish)

The conversation began on a Tuesday night (otherwise known as Edd's night) that was suppose to be spent watching the History Channel.

"Hey, Double D. Do you have any fetishes?"

The single question was able to peel Edd's eyes off the television screen and stare directly at Kevin with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"You know..." Kevin sort of shrugged a shoulder, not even sure himself how to describe what he was talking about. He just repeated again, "Fetishes."

Edd picked the remote off the table and lowered the volume. He adjusted the way he was on the couch, no longer leaning against the other boy, but now sitting up so he was facing him. "Do you mean like..." Edd's eyes traveled to the ceiling as he thought and then rolled back down to Kevin. "Do you mean like how the writer has a strong tendency to casually break the fourth wall as a cheap laugh?"

"No, not like that," Kevin immediately shook his head. He chewed his lower lip, knowing that no matter how hard he tried, there was no way getting around being direct with the question he wanted to ask. "I mean, you know... Sexual stuff."

"Sexual stuff?" Edd repeated.

"Sexual stuff." Kevin repeated.

There was a long silence as they stared at each other, trying to find ways to keep tiptoeing around the subject that was already placed in front of them. "Um," Edd scratched the back of his neck, too shy to even begin trying to think of what answer to give. "I don't know... Do you?"

What Kevin didn't want to happen just did. The question was flung back to him and he knew that if he didn't have an answer to give, then there was no point in Edd giving an answer as well. Kevin took a moment to think of what to say. He just said what was off the top of his head, "I don't know... Dirty talk?"

"Dirty talk?" Edd repeated.

"Dirty talk." Kevin repeated.

As expected, the awkwardness that was lingering heavily in the air made the two just continue watching the History Channel for the best of them. But the conversation wasn't over yet because it was a week later when Kevin got a call from Edd.

"Hey, what's up?" Kevin answered his ringing phone. From the other end, he could hear Edd speaking, but he was doing the thing he tended to do where he kept using all of these scientific terms that Kevin didn't understand. "Double D, what the heck are you saying?"

"Bordetella pertussis," Edd had said. "Mycobacterium tuberculosis, salmonella..."

"What? You aren't making any sense-"

"Mud."

Kevin paused. Something told him that he should have expected no less from Edd.


	5. G(o), H(ygiene), I

**-G(**_o_**)**

There's something different about Peach Creek when you walk away from the cul-de-sac, off the streets, through the construction site, over the creek, and into the trees where no one can find you.

All they had was a flashlight in Kevin's hand, an overfilled backpack strapped onto Edd, and the naive perception that if they got away from it all, then they would be away from it all. They could start all over in a new setting with new people that wouldn't force you to be a part of their scam or force you to be one of the scammed. This was all that they wanted, something new and nothing the same.

But as they kept walking they soon began to realize that all they kept walking into was darkness. The trees surrounding them were blocking the stars in the sky and the home they once knew was hiding behind branches that left scratches on their arms.

"Kevin," Edd said as he wiped the sweat off his brow, despite the night having a chilling air hanging around them. "Let's go back."

It wasn't anything that they wanted, but they both knew it was what they needed.

They walked back and out of the trees, over the creek, through the construction site, back on the streets, and to the cul-de-sac where Peach Creek remained the same and waiting for them.

* * *

**-H(**_ygiene_**)**

There was very little that Edd accepted more easily than cleanliness, so even though he was always able to sit in the worn down bleachers and watch Kevin catch a piece of pig skin that was previously in the grasp of other dirty hands, there was no way Edd would allow himself near Kevin until he knew that the football player had gone to the showers and scrubbed down each particle of dirt and bacteria that had come in contact with his skin and was wearing a new pair of clothes that wasn't drenched in sweat.

Then, and only then, would Edd be able to congratulate him on a game well played.

* * *

**-I**

"Never have I ever drove illegally." Edd said and was shocked to see Kevin take a drink.

Kevin could only shrug. "I was of legal age, just not legally licensed for a car yet." Edd still stared at him wide eyed. "Okay, fine. What really happened, god I hate describing the details because it really makes it seemed less cool, but one weekend morning, I woke up and my parents were gone in my mom's car because of some family emergency on the other side of Peach Creek. So I go to the kitchen, feeling hungry, and when I looked around, I found out that we had cereal but no milk.."

"So you took your father's car and drove to buy a gallon of milk, risking the possibility of being pulled over and revealing that you only have a license for your bike, but not a commercial vehicle?"

"Basically. Yeah."

To this day, Edd still couldn't get over the ridiculousness of Kevin doing something illegal for the sake of his own cereal.

"Alright, my turn," Kevin continued the game. "Never have I ever... Kissed someone in the middle of playing 'Never have I ever'."

Edd looked down at his cup in dismay, knowing that this was going to ruin his streak of not having to take any shots so far that night.

Kevin saw Edd's eyes cast down, and maybe it was because of all the shots he had already taken, but something inside of him didn't like seeing that look. Kevin put his cup down and pushed himself into Edd, kissing him until he could feel his own lips go numb for kissing so long.

When Kevin pulled away, Edd could only stare back at him. Kevin poured more alcohol into his glass and drank it down with any words he was going to say as reason, and then casually said, "Okay. Your turn."


	6. J(awbreakers), K

**-J(**_awbreakers__**)**_

Since he was younger, Kevin has always heard his father rant on about how expensive relationships were when you calculate how much you have to spend to pay for dates, give gifts on special occasions, and even how much time and effort you had to use just to do those cute, little romantic surprises every now and then to keep the relationship alive.

It didn't occur to Kevin how important his father's words were until the day came when Kevin had in mind a special date for Edd, but when he opened his wallet, he was greeted by old receipts and protection waiting to be used. Perhaps he shouldn't have spent all his money last weekend on new parts for his bike.

So that's how it happened, how the summer vacation that was supposed to be used eating ice-cream on the curb and making canon balls into the water was instead spent restocking the shelves and cleaning up any spills down the aisle in the candy store his dad delivered jawbreakers to. All it took were a few connections and reassurance of a completely responsible attitude through his interview that got Kevin the summer job. It was only for a few weeks, enough weeks to ensure he would have enough to take Edd out on that date, and when they give him his pay, he would quit and celebrate not having to deal with anymore visits from an unusually kind Eddy that everyone knew had intentions that didn't include befriending Kevin at all.

But when that final day of work came and Kevin expected to be handed a paycheck, he was handed much more that wasn't a slip of paper that had his salary on it.

The date with Edd had to be adjusted from everything that Kevin originally had planned to staying at home with even more boxes of jawbreakers than his father took from work.

"Well, there are benefits to hiring the youth that the employers at the candy story obviously understood," Edd smiled, even though he can see the frustration in Kevin's face. "I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who would rather be paid through jawbreakers instead of actual money."

* * *

**-K**

For Kevin the lazy texter to send messages to Edd the grammar and spelling Nazi, it was an accomplishment to actually send a message with a coherent sentence in it.

Edd grew used to the vague messages he would receive from the other boy. When Edd would text him "How are you?", Kevin would text back "ok". When Edd would text him a message with a picture of something he saw that reminded him of Kevin, Kevin would text back "lol omg hahahah".

So when the day finally came where Edd saw his cell phone and received a message from Kevin that had somewhat comprehensibly asked "do you wanna catch a movie this sat?", Edd took the opportunity to reverse the tables and see how Kevin liked it if Edd used his own lingo in their text conversations.

After Kevin had sent that message to Edd, he received a reply back in a matter of minutes. But no matter how long Kevin stared at the screen, he just couldn't understand.

"What the hell does he mean by 'potassium'?"


	7. L(abels)

They have always said that teasing was fine as long as they are between two people who love each other, so pranks definitely must mean that the two people more than just love each other.

But it was no prank when Edd woke up to his alarm, just as he had set it the night before, and found everything wrong in his room. His books were all still in alphabetical order, the angle that his heating lamp for his bacteria study was still perfect, his fossil collection had been untouched from his last observation. So what was wrong? Everything that held highest value to Edd remained the same, and nothing was a mess or in an improper placement, but it was the labels, the strips of names stuck onto everything that was wrong.

Upon further investigation, his bookshelf once properly labeled "bookshelf" was now labeled "Word Netflix" and his closet door that originally was labeled "closet" was now labeled "Clothes Refrigerator". The torture stretched on as his pillow was now labeled "Head Mattress" and his box of tissues were labeled "Nose Blankets". Each book was labeled "Movie Spoiler" on the spines, except for the encyclopedia that just had "42". His heating lamp was labeled "Indoor Sun" and his bacteria study was labeled "Zombie Virus: Handle with Caution". His fossil collection that was once labeled according to which plant or animal was fossilized and the time period it was found was now labeled with different fictional character names and which movie they had died in.

Edd was horrified and ran out of his bedroom and into his bathroom, suddenly feeling an uneasiness overturning within his stomach. There in the bathroom he found that the torturer hadn't just stopped in the bedroom for his toothbrush was labeled "Mouth Scrubber" and his floss was labeled "Toothlaces" and his mouthwash was labeled "Gross Sports Drink". He looked into the mirror and saw the worst label of them all.

There on his forehead was the single label "Kevin's dork."

Edd knew how unnecessary Kevin thought labeling everything was.

Even from outside the scream that came out of Edd's lungs could be heard, and it wasn't until he heard that scream that Kevin knew his work was done. He had been sitting on his bike the entire morning, waiting just to hear the reaction he expected from his little prank.

The corner of Kevin's mouth pulled upwards into a smug smile. He turned his bike around and went back to his house, deciding that there was no other way to reward himself for a job well done than with some fresh waffles to pop into the toaster. As he walked through his front door and made his way into the kitchen, Kevin paused in his steps.

He rewinded, walking backwards until he stood in front of the mirror his mom had placed on the wall next to the front door. Kevin turned his back to the mirror and looked over his shoulder and at the mirror, discovering a prank to his own prank. "What..?"

There on his bottom was the single label "Property of Eddward."

Edd knew how unnecessary Kevin thought labeling everything was and wanted Kevin to understand that there was a reason for them.


	8. M(others)

Ever since the divorce, visits to Kevin's parents has been a test of who could be more understanding and patient. The actual appearance of Kevin's father was far less than his mother, simply because even at his old age, Kevin's father continues to work and continues to prove to his son the importance of diligence and being assiduous. This was all actually the test of understanding since Kevin and Edd always had to understand that a gift card to some restaurant chain was as close as they would get to having a good dinner with his father.

On the other hand, Kevin's mother was always there. There were planned visits where Kevin would call ahead to have a chat with his mother, but then there were the surprise visits from a lonely lady that needed a listening buddy for a rant over lunch about some punk teenager she ran into at the grocery store that reminded her of a past lover. And there was no way Kevin could escape those moments with his mother, for the last time he explained to her that he already had plans with Edd, she took it as attitude and abandonment and even though Kevin was of legal age, he was left with a cold shoulder that made it feel like the times he got grounded in middle school.

Because being with his mother happened frequently, Edd was patient enough to wait for Kevin to return later. Kevin would always enter back the apartment, tossing the keys in the tray and hanging his jacket over the rack. "She is such a handful," Kevin would sometimes say as he'd drag himself over to where ever Edd was and just wrap his arms lazily over the boy in waiting and just stay like that, not wanting to move another inch. "She needs to find another man," Kevin would sometimes say, and there was even a time he said, "I wish I didn't have to see her so much."

Whenever Kevin said these things, Edd would just sigh and gently pat Kevin on the back.

Kevin would always catch the sigh and understand that the gentle pat on his back was from the same hand that would always remove the post-it note left behind on the wall or counter or kitchen table with a message about never being there.

"Sorry," Kevin would say.

"It's okay," Edd would say.


	9. N, O, P(uns), Q

**-N**

Edd smiled widely as he drew the final limb on the stick figure body being hung on his piece of paper.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Kevin would yell angrily for the over competitive boy couldn't take a loss, even in a game of hangman. "How do you have a three letter word that doesn't have any vowels, or even a y?"

Edd liked winning, and he especially liked winning because of his intelligence. He uncapped his pen once more and then filled in the three empty spaces: nth.

"What the heck is that?" Kevin yelled.

"By it's very definition," Edd replied smugly. "It's a clear representation of how many games of hangman I will beat you in."

* * *

**-O**

"Oh" was all the boy could say when he was actually wrong.

"Oh" was all the boy could say when he actually lost.

Edd and Kevin exchanged glances. It only took a second later for Kevin to pull out another quarter and for Edd to press his hands and face against the glass and give directions for Kevin to obey as he grabbed the joystick and directed the claw above the cactus plushie that they were both determined to get before the end of the night.

* * *

**-P(**_uns_**)**

"Puns are inappropriately used in so many situations and should be banned from teaching them to younger generations." Edd sat at the kitchen counter, watching the other boy hovering over the stove as water boiled in the kettle. "You can say they have a dolt sense of humor about them."

He sometimes played this game in the most unsuspecting moments, throwing puns in his casual dialogue to practice his wit and see if the other boy would catch them. Since the day he began playing this game, the other boy had never seem to notice or show any reaction.

But then Kevin turned off the stove and picked up the kettle. He poured the hot water into a mug and let the tea steep for a few minutes before placing the mug in front of Edd.

"Here's some hot tea for my hottie."

Edd stared at Kevin. Kevin stared at Edd.

"Yeah..." Kevin looked away when he realized he failed at the game that Edd liked to play. "They do have a dolt sense of humor about them."

* * *

**-Q**

"Q is one smart guy."

Edd had to pause what he was doing to think about what Kevin just said. "I wasn't aware that letters had to ability to have a measure intelligence."

"No, no, no. I'm not talking about the letter." Kevin corrected. "I'm talking about the dude who supplies James Bond with all his gadgets."

There was another pause.

And then Kevin suddenly suggested, "Hey, you build all that random crap for Eddy's scams. Maybe you should invest in a future as James Bond's Q."

"Right." Edd sarcastically took Kevin's suggestion. "That's exactly what I aspire to be and will place on all my future job applications."


	10. R(ed), S(afe)

**-R(**_ed__**)**_

One day a curious Edd couldn't help but tilt his head and asked, "Why do you wear that red hat?"

Kevin stopped admiring his growing biceps and looked at Edd. "That's like asking why Superman wears that red cape."

Because Edd wasn't one who read any comics, that was more of Ed's thing, he wasn't quite sure how that reply answered his question. So of course, being Edd and always needing to understand everything and never being satisfied if he didn't have the answer, spent all night collecting and reading and gathering as much information about Superman as he could.

When Edd saw Kevin again, the first thing he said was, "So are you to say that when you arrived to our planet, you used the cloth and blanket that your birth mother had wrapped around you, and then you used that material to produce that red hat you wear so often?"

Kevin stared at Edd. "Do you really think that I'm a superhero?"

"If it was what you were initially implying."

"Huh," Kevin put his hands in his pockets as he took a moment to ponder about it. "But I'm not doing anything superhero-y or saving the world right now. And Superman wears his red cape when he's being superhero-y. So what's the point of me wearing my red hat?"

With this question, Edd paused and began to think, too. "Perhaps... Your red hat, in actuality, is just your pair of glasses?"

Kevin looked at Edd, needing an explanation.

"Well," Edd had done his research and he was always glad to go into further detail. "Superman is known for his red cape, but when he is wearing his glasses, he is just Clark Kent working at the Daily Planet."

Kevin nodded. "Okay... I'm following you."

"But what makes Superman different from other super heroes, such as Batman, is that Superman was born as Kal-El with all of his Kryptonian powers, and his Clark Kent persona is actually more of his disguise, whereas Batman was born as Bruce Wayne and his Batman persona is his disguise." Edd then concluded, "Maybe your red hat is not your red cape, but is actually your glasses to disguise your powers and camouflage into the human population?"

"So now what you're saying is," Kevin restated for the verbose Edd. "You don't think I'm a superhero, you just think I'm an alien."

"Extraterrestrial lifeforms walking among us without any knowledge of them is thought to be extremely plausible."

Kevin stared at Edd, and then at Edd's hat, and then back at Edd. "If any one of us were aliens, I bet it's you." He turned to begin walking away, but he turned to face Edd once more and added, "How about we just say that it's because I'm a superhero? I like that one more."

* * *

**-S(**_afe__**)**_

With each second that passed, Kevin couldn't help but feel the guilt of going to the Peach Creek Community Pool instead of the Swimming Hole pressuring down on him. As he stared at the other boy laying before him, pale and not moving, Kevin's mind began running to places he should have remembered. How many compressions to the chest was it? How many breaths was he suppose to give? Were those breaths to the nose or mouth again?

After taking a moment to regain his thoughts, Kevin managed to bring the other boy back to life. Edd gagged, spitting out whatever water was left in his lungs, and then sat up from where he was laid down. He stared at Kevin who stared back at him with wide eyes and his lower lip trembling. It didn't take long before Edd could understand what happened.

"Oh my, did you just..?" The only thing Edd could think about doing at that moment was smile. "Did those classes I 'forced' you to attend with me actually teach you something that you ended up using-"

Kevin pressed his own lips against Edd's before he could finish his 'I told you so' rant. He had just brought the life back into the lungs of the other boy, but now that he knew he was safe again, he didn't care if their kiss lasted so long that both of them couldn't breath any longer.


	11. T(utor)

In the world of overly attentive, grade grubbing, study-hards, anything lower than an A is unacceptable.

The teacher had asked, more like encouraged, Edd to help tutor one of the failing students in his class. Edd agreed, automatically assuming that it would have been Ed again, but was surprised when he entered the classroom after school and was instead greeted by a mumble from a varsity jacket and trademark red hat. He didn't want to be there either, Kevin said as he automatically recognized the expression on Edd's face, so they might as well just deal with it for a couple days. Kevin even added that he promised to study more on his own when he came home from practice just so he would be able to get a higher score on his next test and Edd wouldn't have to tutor him anymore and Kevin would no longer be on academic probation. Edd honestly saw nothing wrong with having to tutor Kevin, the expression on his face was just because he didn't expect Kevin to be failing, but Edd did not deny Kevin's offer, especially since he mentioned studying on his own. Did he not do that on his own already?

With the beginning of their tutoring sessions, there were struggles in terms being used, so Edd found himself re-explaining lessons that were spent the entire class period teaching. Kevin had his own notes that were scribbled down when he was supposedly paying attention in class, but he began to realize, amazingly, that ever since Edd started tutoring him, his own handwriting began making sense. The tutoring sessions turned from re-explanations to understanding to application, with small inside jokes about Edd getting a future job in Sylvan and Kevin learning how to write from Rolf's chickens.

All fun and games had ended when the day of the test arrived. As the class took their test, scribbling in answers and having mental breakdowns when they realized that this test was much harder than they expected, Edd would every now and then glance over his shoulder and look at Kevin. Kevin had his left elbow propped on the desk and his chin resting in his hand as he wrote on his test, not extremely concentrated, but focused nonetheless. When Edd looked back to the front of the class, he gave a small and reassuring smile to his glaring teacher, promising that he wasn't cheating.

Like every other test, Edd was the last to finish, not because he was struggling, but because he knew how to utilize his time and check over each answer. He stood up from his desk and turned it in to the teacher who graded it right in front of him.

He got an A-.

It was a grade that most likely resulted from taking time away from his own studying schedule to help Kevin, but seeing that single dash next to the A made Edd's face lose all color. He had always only allowed himself A+'s, and A's if the teacher did not use minuses and pluses, so seeing this A- shattered everything for him. Maybe he shouldn't have focused so much on helping Kevin this entire time. Yeah. Edd shouldn't have done that. It ended up not helping himself.

Edd grabbed his bag and walked out of the classroom. As soon as he stepped out from the door, he was greeted by a wide smile from a varsity jacket and trademark red hat.

"Dude, Double D!" Kevin exclaimed with bright eyes. "I got a B. A friggin B! That's above average and gonna get me back playing on the team!"

Edd smiled.

"Thanks, man." The redhead lightly punched Edd on the shoulder. "I don't know what I'd be without you."

Kevin then turned around and walked down the hallway. Edd watched Kevin walk away, putting his own hand over the shoulder that Kevin punched.

Even though a B was lower than an A-, it was a grade that Edd couldn't help but feel proud of.


End file.
